


Destination Wedding

by spoffyumi



Series: Gimme Shelter one-shots [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Christmas, Happy Ending, Holidays, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Wedding Fluff, Wedding Planning, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-08
Updated: 2015-08-08
Packaged: 2018-04-13 17:07:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4530177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spoffyumi/pseuds/spoffyumi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve's decided he's ready to ask Bucky to marry him, but he can't quite figure out how...</p><p>Yet another one-shot based off of <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/3902671/chapters/8733076">Gimme Shelter</a>.  Very unlikely this will work as a stand-alone... but you can try!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Destination Wedding

Weddings had been on Steve's mind lately, ever since he and Bucky had attended Tony and Pepper's wedding in the fall.  It had been one of those storybook-perfect affairs, sunny weather, everything coordinated and going off without a hitch.  While Pepper had looked gorgeous in a Vera Wang gown, Steve had spent most of the ceremony watching Bucky's face out of the corner of his eye.  Bucky deserved a fairy-tale happy ending like this, after everything he had been through.

Steve just couldn't figure out a good way to ask Bucky to marry him.

He worried that it was too soon.  Bucky had only just moved into his farmhouse with him back at the end of summer, after all, and he had left Steve hanging for hours before making up his mind.  But that was more because Steve sprung the idea on him after Bucky had already found an apartment and was going to move in there the next day.

Since then, life had been pretty awesome.  Everything Steve ever could have hoped for.  He didn't know why he was so nervous about popping the question.  Bucky would definitely say yes, no matter how he asked.  But they had only started dating last May, and it wasn't even Christmas yet.  Weren't you supposed to wait a year or something?

"Just do it," Sam told him one Friday night at Clark's Tavern, while Bucky was in the bathroom.  "I've never seen you like this about anyone.  You two are perfect together."

"You don't think I'm rushing things?"

"Nah."

The how still stumped him.  He didn't want to just drop the question after sex, or during dinner at a fancy restaurant.  And he definitely didn't want to trick Bucky into thinking anything bad, like he had when he'd asked Bucky to move in with him.  He had gone and adopted Bucky's favorite dog at the shelter where he worked and Bucky had showed up at the house crying and freaking out.  He deserved Bucky taking a few hours to decide to move in after that little stunt.

No, it had to be something good.

Christmas was coming up, and Steve had an idea, but first he wanted to talk to Natasha, Bucky's best friend, about it.  He ended up stopping by the record store where she worked – Bucky had classes that morning.  "I didn't do anything," Natasha said when he strolled in wearing his uniform.  She held up her hands behind the counter.  "I swear!"

He laughed.  "Not here to arrest you.  I just wanted to ask you something, and I kind of need it to be a secret from Bucky."

Nat raised an eyebrow.  "You have my attention, officer."

"How does Bucky do around the holidays?"

Nat winced.  "He usually gets pretty depressed."

"That's kind of what I thought.  He's been quieter than normal since winter started."

"But you guys will be together this year.  I know he's been looking for the perfect present for you.  I mean, when he lived at my place, we never even got each other anything.  Not really.  Like, I might buy him a new shirt or something, and he'd make me a mixtape.  On Christmas morning we just curled up in blankets all day and watched horror movies."

"Horror movies?"  He knew Bucky loved horror movies, but on Christmas morning?

"Holiday movies just made us more depressed.  But we did like to watch holiday-themed horror movies.  You know.  'Silent Night, Deadly Night,' 'Black Christmas,' et cetera," Nat explained with a shrug.  "But anyway, he's got you now.  Don't you have family?"

"Yeah, we'll be going to my aunt and uncle's for dinner."

"Right.  So he'll be fine."

"You sure?"

"Is this really what you came in here to ask me?"

"No."  Steve shuffled his feet a bit.  "I was thinking of proposing to Bucky on Christmas morning."

Nat squealed.  "He will love it!  You have to do it.  I won't breathe a word.  Do you already have a ring?"

"Not yet."  Inexplicably, he thought of the ring Bucky had given him for his birthday on the fourth of July.  It wasn't a ring for his finger.  He shifted his weight again.  "I'm taking off a day next week so I can go do that while he's at work."

Natasha was still smiling.  "He's gonna be so happy."

Steve had worried that Bucky would be so depressed over the holidays that even a proposal wouldn't drag him out of it.  What had made Bucky depressed was probably his whole family situation – his abusive stepfather had kicked him out of the house years ago and told him his mother didn't want to see him, so he'd been left with no family to visit on the holidays.  This year he had Steve to wake up with, and open presents with, and he seemed to like Steve's aunt and uncle a lot.  And Steve's family liked Bucky, too.

With Natasha's blessing, he moved forward with his plan, and almost before he knew it, it was Christmas Eve.  Being one of the newer cops on the force, he'd had to work late.  He got home around nine, though he was still on call.  He found Bucky lying on the couch in the living room in the dark with only the Christmas tree lights on.

"Buck?" Steve asked when the dogs greeted him but Bucky did not.  Cheddar, the brown and white bulldog, whined, and that's when Steve grew concerned.  He knelt down beside Bucky.  He was asleep.  There was a pill bottle on the table next to an empty bottle of beer.  Still plenty of pills in the bottle, so Bucky obviously hadn't overdosed.  With his new health insurance, Bucky had been going to physical therapy, and he hadn't needed pills in a long time.  The fact that Bucky had even taken them meant he was not in a good place. 

Steve tucked the blankets around him, and built up a fire in the fireplace.  He had wanted it to be a good night.  He'd known he'd be late, but figured Bucky would wait up for him.  Hot chocolate, a fire... of course he'd wanted to make love to Bucky too, if Bucky had been in the mood.  Not much he could do about that now.

He left Cheddar and Star, the German Shepherd, to watch over Bucky while he changed into his pajamas, and then he took his pillow and brought it downstairs, gently lifting Bucky's head so he could place it underneath.  He climbed over Bucky, who didn't stir, and squeezed himself between Bucky's back and the back of the couch so he could be holding Bucky when he woke up.

***

Bucky's eyes creaked open.  Immediately Cheddar licked his face, and he fumbled a hand out of the blankets to stroke his soft ears before feeling the warmth at his back and around his waist. 

Of course Steve had slept on the couch with him.  He tried to let that make him feel better, but it was hard.  Sometimes he felt like he didn’t deserve Steve.  What had he ever done that was so good?   Then Star came over and nudged her head under his hand, and Queenie was yowling – Cheddar liked to tease her, and he took a deep breath.  Maybe he _did_ deserve something good. 

Behind him, Steve inhaled deeply and gripped Bucky tight in his arms.  Bucky could finally smile then.  “Morning,” he said.

“Merry Christmas,” Steve corrected.  “Wanna see what Santa brought for you?”

“We could have breakfast first.”

“Nope.”  Steve was up now, and pushing Bucky to get up too.  “It’s Christmas morning.  First order of business is presents.  We gotta work up an appetite.”

Bucky rubbed his face and adjusted to being upright on the couch.  He’d gone to a lot of effort for Steve’s presents, but now he was second-guessing himself.  What if Steve had spent a lot of money?  Bucky didn’t have a lot of money.  He’d had to get creative.  He worried that Steve would feel like their gifts weren’t an even trade.

“At least coffee first,” Bucky said.

He knew he was being a whiny grump, but he was rewarded when Steve wrapped his arms around him and kissed him on the temple.  “Just one present first.”

“Fine.” 

Steve handed him a medium-sized box wrapped in snowflake paper.  “For you.”  Steve waited with a smile.

“Okay.”  Bucky pointed to a flat gift wrapped in brown paper with a red bow.  “You open that one.”  He hesitated until Steve picked it up, then started peeling the paper.  Slowly. 

“Aw, Buck, this is great!” Steve held up the photo frame, which was black like all the others on the mantel.  Inside was a black and white photo of the two of them, which Bucky had taken on a hike over the summer.  He got up and made a space for it on the mantel right away, glancing over his shoulder to see what was taking Bucky so long.

Finally, Bucky had torn away enough paper to see that Steve had bought him something called a French press.  “Thanks,” Bucky said, looking at the box.  It seemed to be some kind of coffee maker.  He wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it.

“Supposedly, French press coffee is the best kind of coffee,” Steve said.  “So I’ve heard.  Let’s give it a whirl and see.”

That at least got Bucky away from the blinking Christmas tree and his sad, brown-paper wrapped presents underneath it.  Apparently, the French press was a process and a half.  It involved grinding the coffee, heating water in a kettle, pouring it into the French press, stirring, and waiting for it to steep.  When it was done, Steve poured the coffee into two mugs and they each sipped at the brew. 

At almost the same time, they grimaced.  “Whew, that’s bitter,” Steve said.

Bucky laughed, glad that Steve had said it.  He didn’t want to insult Steve’s gift.  “Cream and sugar, then.”

With the additives, the coffee became tolerable, and Steve ushered Bucky back into the living room.  “More presents!”

Bucky groaned but waddled after him, still wrapped in the blanket from the couch. 

“Next present!” The gift Steve handed him was most definitely clothing.  Bucky pointed at a gift of a similar size for Steve.  This was the one present he had splurged on.

“Oh, this is nice,” Bucky said, unwrapping a sky blue cashmere sweater.  He ran his hand over the softness. 

“You look so fucking good in that other one.”  Steve patted his knee.  “And this one matches your eyes.”

Bucky looked down at the color and felt his cheeks heat up a little.  He could wear it today, when they went for dinner at Steve’s aunt and uncle’s.  “Thank you.”

From the box Steve had opened, he extracted a navy blue pea coat.  “I hope you like it,” Bucky said anxiously, as Steve held it up.

“Bucky, it’s great!  Wow.”  He immediately stood and shrugged the coat on over his t-shirt.

“Does it fit okay?  I kept the receipt... you have such big shoulders—” 

Steve shut Bucky up with a kiss.  “I love it.”

There were so many presents; Bucky thought the anxiety would never end.  He’d made sure to have as many packages under the tree for Steve as Steve had for Bucky, and that had taken some last minute scrambling.  He’d made another mixtape for Steve just the other day.  While Little Nicky batted around the tissue paper, and Star and Cheddar gnawed on the rawhide bones that were in their stockings, Steve and Bucky unwrapped present after present – more presents than Bucky had received in the past seven years put together.

Bucky received more clothing – long underwear and thick gloves, because Steve was going to teach Bucky how to snowboard; a fur-lined hunter’s cap to keep his ears warm when he walked to school from work; a black hooded sweatshirt.  Out of all Bucky’s gifts to him, Steve liked his new underwear the best.  “I’ll wear these today,” he said, pulling out the ones with red stars on a white background.  “You can take them off me later.”

Just when Bucky thought they were done, Steve pulled out a tiny box.  _Fuck, he’d missed one_.  “But I don’t have another present for you,” Bucky said, staring at the now-empty space under the tree. 

“It’s okay,” said Steve, crawling over to Bucky on his knees.  “Come on, it’s just one little thing.  I don’t mind.”

Bucky heaved a sigh and looked at it.  It _was_ little.  “Fine.”

He untied the little bow and removed the wrapping paper.  Glanced up at Steve.  He wondered if it was a cock ring, like he’d gotten Steve for his birthday, although they’d both used that since.  He didn’t really need one of his own, and besides, this box was a little small for that. 

But it was a ring box.

Steve’s face looked hopeful, his eyes shining, mouth poised to smile.

He opened the lid.

It was a ring.  A real ring.  A platinum band.  He stared at it, uncomprehending.

“James Buchanan Barnes,” said Steve, “will you marry me?”

***

Bucky’s face seemed to be frozen.  Steve waited for what felt like forever, his knees starting to hurt – fuck, he was supposed to have been on one knee, wasn’t he?

Finally, Bucky opened his mouth.  “What?”

“Will you marry me?” Steve asked, impatient for the answer.

“Marry you?” Bucky repeated.  He was still staring at the ring.

Clearly this was going to take a while to sink in.  Maybe he should have waited until after breakfast, when Bucky was more awake?

When Bucky managed to tear his eyes away from the ring and look at Steve, his eyes were shining.  “You want to marry me?”

“Yes,” Steve said, pulling himself up onto the couch and giving Bucky a hug.  “Yes, I want to marry you!”

“Oh!”  Bucky gave him a watery smile.

Steve raised his eyebrows.  “Do you want to marry me?”

“Oh!” Bucky said again, this time breaking into a grin.  “Yes!”

Then there were tears and kisses and neither of them could eat much for breakfast.  Bucky kept looking down at the ring on his finger and smiling like he couldn't believe his good luck.  But that wasn’t true.  _Steve_ was the luckiest person alive. 

Up in the bedroom, before they showered, Steve pushed Bucky down on the bed and proceeded to give him another Christmas present, in the form of a blow job.  He knew it would calm Bucky down a bit, keep him from getting too anxious about the family dinner and announcing their engagement.  He could feel the cold metal of the ring against his cheek.  Bucky always liked to stroke his head when Steve went down on him.  The first time Bucky had tried to hold his head while he gave a blow job Steve had almost freaked out – but then, before Bucky, he'd mostly just hooked up with random guys, and a lot of them like to grab his head and fuck his mouth, which he hated.  But not Bucky.  Bucky just liked to rest his hands there and play with Steve's hair.  And at this point, Steve might like it if Bucky fucked his mouth.  He liked everything they did together.

Bucky looked great in his new blue sweater, so great Steve couldn't help kissing him some more and reaching down the back of his pants.  Bucky smiled bashfully and kept looking at his hand.  Steve grabbed that left hand and kissed it and held it to his chest.  "I'm so happy you said yes."

***

Steve's family was thrilled at the announcement, and though Bucky had texted Natasha to tell her the news on the ride over, they planned a little New Year's gathering to tell the rest of their friends.  Sam arrived with Sharon, the vet at the shelter, on his arm – they'd been dating since the summer.  Natasha and Bruce, Pete and Mora and their bandmates, Peggy and Angie and Dottie and a bunch of Steve's other friends from the army, a few cops, and Clint and Kate showed up an hour after everyone else.  Tony and Pepper had other plans, unfortunately.  They were always jet setting off to some exotic locale.

After all the holiday excitement had died down, they could get down to planning.  They set a date for the following winter, after reading in a wedding magazine that engagements should last at least a year.  It wasn't long before Steve noticed Bucky's knee jumping when they sat down to look at venues and prices for things like catering, a DJ, and flowers. 

"Maybe we should just elope," Steve suggested one night, when Bucky took one look at their wedding binder and headed to the bathroom to take one of his pills. 

"No, no, your family would be upset," said Bucky, chewing on his thumbnail.  He scratched Cheddar behind the ears.  Cheddar had been clinging to Bucky lately, constantly at his side the moment Bucky returned home. 

"What if we did something like this?"  Steve pulled out a booklet.  Across the top, the writing asked, _Is a destination wedding right for YOU?_

Bucky opened to the first page, where a bride and groom stood facing each other on a gorgeous beach.  "A destination wedding," he said doubtfully.

Inching his chair closer, Steve explained.  "We'd fly to some tropical island, get married on the beach.  The place provides everything; we just show up.  Then we're already there for the honeymoon."

"But none of our friends would be there."

"They could come if they want.  It'll be low-key."  Steve put his hand on Bucky's jumping knee.  "Just a suggestion."

Bucky was quiet for a long time, leafing through the booklet.  "It would be nice," he said, sounding sad.  "But I can't afford any of this."

"My aunt and uncle said they could give us some money for the wedding.  And I could take out a loan."

"I don't want us to start out in debt," Bucky said.  "I already have student loans."

"I know you're worried about the money, Buck."  Steve covered Bucky's hand with his own.  "But we can do this.  Maybe we can find someplace closer.  Myrtle Beach isn't far.  Let me look into it."

Steve could see how close Bucky was to crying, so he took away the booklet and pulled out the movie he'd rented from the Red Box.  "I got the new Batman movie," he said, holding it up.  This way he got to hug Bucky all night long, comb his fingers through that long brown hair, and hope Bucky wasn't having second thoughts about this wedding.

***

Steve began doing the wedding planning on his own.  He knew what Bucky would want: something low-key, not a lot of people, simple.  No frills.  A beach wedding would be perfect.  You didn't need to worry about flowers and decorations when you were on the beach.  Steve found a place that had a full package deal, and even though the only date they had open was months before the date they had set, Steve put a deposit down. 

Once everything was arranged and paid for, he told Bucky, after they'd made love and were lying together in bed, relaxed and wrapped up in each other.  "I don't want you to be mad," he started out, and immediately regretted his choice of wording.  "I don't think you will be mad," he corrected, "but I know you were getting stressed out about the wedding, so I booked a place."

Bucky tensed up.  "What place?"

"It's a nice place on Wilmington Beach.  It's a bed and breakfast that you can rent out the whole place for a small wedding.  Maximum of fifty people, and we don't have to invite anywhere near that number.  All-inclusive, which means we don't have to worry about scheduling or booking anything else."

"Wilmington Beach," Bucky said. 

Steve felt him relax a little, and he rubbed Bucky back and kissed his neck the way he liked.  "So what do you think?"

"Thank you."  Bucky's voice rasped a little, and he laid his cheek on Steve's shoulder.  "You didn't have to take out a loan, did you?"

"Nope.  It was all very affordable."

"You're not lying?"

"I don't lie to you," Steve whispered, his lips brushing the scruff on Bucky's jaw.  "But we will have to change the wedding date."

"To when?" Bucky hadn't tensed up on that one.  Good. 

"September.  Otherwise the beach will get too cold." 

"Okay."  Bucky was smiling.

"You don't mind marrying me a little sooner than planned?"

"Not at all."

***

With school and working two jobs, the time flew by for Bucky.  Before he knew it, he and Steve were getting fitted for suits.  Bucky had decided to wear the one suit he owned.  His mother had bought it for him years ago, and it was a very expensive suit – much nicer than any new suit Bucky might have been able to afford, and he wasn’t going to let Steve buy him a suit for their wedding.  It did need some tailoring, since Bucky had filled out a bit, now that he and Steve worked out together in the mornings. 

Steve, however, wanted to get a new suit.  “Why don’t you wear your dress blues,” Bucky had suggested, but Steve shook his head. 

“I want a suit as nice as yours.”

As Steve’s best man, Sam had to get a suit as well, and then there was Natasha, who Bucky had chosen as his best man.  “Not ‘best person’ or any of that,” Bucky had said when he asked her. 

“Shall I wear a suit, then?” she asked with a lift of her eyebrow. 

“You can wear whatever you want.”

Natasha went with black, so she could fit in with everyone else.  Bucky accompanied her to the bridal boutique, where she walked out in a strapless satin dress that came down to mid-calf, with a white sash.  He’d thought at first that it might be weird to have his ex-girlfriend as his best man, but Steve didn’t have a problem with it, and even though she looked stunning in that dress, he didn’t feel anything romantic towards her. 

With such a small wedding party, Steve had told him there wasn’t a need for a flower girl or ring bearer, but Bucky had a plan for that.

***

The bachelor party done (they all went out together and sang karaoke), the wedding shower over with (Bucky hadn’t wanted one, but found himself surprised with one at Steve’s aunt and uncle’s house anyway), and the small rehearsal dinner finished (lots of wine that helped them both to relax), Bucky lay alone in bed for the first time in over a year.  He could barely comprehend how much his life had changed in such a short period of time.  A year and a half ago, he’d been on the cusp of homeless, barely getting by.  Now he was going to be married.  Steve was going to be his husband.  He was going to be Steve’s husband.  It felt surreal. 

Luckily, Bucky had some company in his hotel room.  Steve had done his homework well; the hotel was pet-friendly, so Bucky had Cheddar to cuddle with on his bed, and Steve had Star.  When his alarm went off in the morning, it was really Cheddar who woke him up, licking his face.

He was so excited he could barely eat the breakfast sandwich Natasha brought him.  “Everything’s going to be fine,” Natasha told him, helping him pin a boutonniere onto his lapel.  Simplest color scheme ever: black and white. 

His palms were sweaty before he even left the room, so he took tissues and crumpled them in his pockets so he could dry off the sweat without looking like a freak.  He looked at himself in the mirror.  His face was pale, but his hair was pulled back neatly and the suit fit perfectly. 

“Smile,” Nat said from behind him.  “You’re gonna be fine.”

“I’m gonna throw up.”

“Just don’t throw up on your fiancé.”

 Another thing to worry about.

“Deep breaths, James.  You can do this.  You love him, right?”

“Yes.”  That he could say with confidence.

“Then pretend he’s the only one on that beach.”

A few rows of chairs faced the waterfront and a white lattice archway covered in climbing ivy.  There was no flooring, no rug.  Everyone was barefoot; Bucky’s wedding party behind a wooden partition on the left, Steve’s on the right.  Bucky grinned a little, squishing his toes in the sand. How could he be nervous with no shoes on?

Steve’s aunt and uncle walked down the aisle first, then Sam, then Steve.  He waited at the front by the Justice of the Peace for Bucky’s contingency.  That was when Bucky unclipped the leashes from Star and Cheddar, and sent them out. 

He wished he could see Steve’s reaction to Cheddar with a white satin pillow, the two rings tied down securely, attached to his back, and Star, with a basket of white flower petals clamped between her jaws.  The audience laughed, and then he heard Steve say, “Good boy, good girl,” and Bucky knew both dogs had done what he had trained them to, which was to walk side-by-side down the aisle and stop at Steve’s feet.  Another little titter of laughter – Bucky assumed Steve was trying to get the dogs to sit or something.  Then Nat threaded her elbow through his and whispered, “Show time.”

Stepping out, he locked eyes with Steve and felt that coil of nerves in his stomach unwind.  _He’s the only person on this beach_ , he reminded himself with each step that brought him closer and closer.  By the time he reached the front, his eyes had grown misty, and he only briefly looked at Nat when she kissed his cheek and went to take her place. 

The entire ceremony was a blur.  Steve immediately reached out for Bucky’s hands, and Bucky gripped Steve’s fingers so hard his knuckles turned white.  Yet he couldn’t stop smiling.  When it came time to say the vows, Bucky was thankful he went first, his voice quiet and cracking, because if he’d gone after Steve he would have started crying. 

“You may now kiss the groom,” said the JP, and Steve pulled him close and gave him a nice big kiss, with church tongue, as Steve had called it during the rehearsal.  “Like a tasteful French kiss,” he had explained. 

What they did between the “just married” walk back down the aisle and heading out for wedding pictures, however, did _not_ involve church tongue.  Unless Steve’s tongue in Bucky’s asshole counted.  They’d never had faster sex than they did there in the private bathroom of Steve’s hotel room, where they’d escaped to “freshen up.” 

And in their wedding photos, they looked flushed and radiant, with what Steve privately referred to as “sex hair,” although none of their friends ever called it that (to their faces).


End file.
